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Minecraft Creator Notch Tells Players to Pirate His Game

Minecraft creator Markus Persson apparently has no problem with people pirating his game.

“I really like the game but lack the money to buy it. I thought I might at least ask for a free account before piracy,” a fan tweeted at him.

Persson responded: ”Just pirate it. If you still like it when you can afford it in the future, buy it then. Also don’t forget to feel bad. ;)”

It’d be a bold statement coming from a struggling developer barely making his costs, but the indie darling doesn’t exactly have financial troubles, with over 4 million copies sold worldwide. Pirating is a contentious issue in the video gaming community, one only exacerbated by the controversy surrounding the Stop Online Piracy Act. Some see it as bald-faced stealing, others see it as an almost Robin-Hoodesque way of opposing large companies. Some companies have turned to complicated Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems, further angering paying customers by making them jump through hoops to play the game.

Persson spoke in favor of games piracy at last year’s Game Developer’s Conference.

“Piracy is not theft,” he said. “If you steal a car, the original is lost. If you copy a game, there are simply more of them in the world. There is no such thing as a ‘lost sale’. Is a bad review a lost sale? What about a missed ship date?”

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